📈 Top-5 Growth Stocks — September 20, 2026
Weekly Growth Stock Screen · Sunday, September 20, 2026 · Prices and targets as of the Friday, September 18 close. Charts of price versus analyst targets and consensus revenue growth accompany this edition by email.
⚠️ Read this first
This is not a week to be a hero. The Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, September 16, and the 2027 dot plot came in more hawkish than the market wanted. The 10-year Treasury is sitting at 4.98%, a whisker from 5%, WTI crude is above $102 a barrel, and the Bank of Japan just lifted its policy rate to a 31-year high, which is tightening global liquidity from the other side of the world. The preliminary University of Michigan sentiment index fell to 47.8, the second-lowest reading on record, with one-year inflation expectations at 4.6%. Equities have been resilient, with the S&P 500 near 7,640 and the Nasdaq near 26,400 after Thursday's rally, but Friday's triple-witching session opened lower as yields climbed.
The coming week (September 21–25) is data-light but Fed-heavy: flash S&P Global PMIs on Wednesday, jobless claims and new home sales on Thursday, durable goods and the final September sentiment print on Friday, and more than ten scheduled Fed speeches including Williams, Jefferson and Goolsbee. Nothing on that calendar is likely to reverse the hawkish message, so the practical advice is to size positions at half your normal weight, stage entries over several sessions rather than buying all at once, and keep in mind that the single biggest catalyst on this list, Micron's fiscal Q4 report, lands the following Wednesday, September 30, after the close. Every name below is a high-beta AI-infrastructure story; in a rising-rate tape they will move together, so treat the five as one correlated bet rather than five independent ones.
How the list was built
The starting universe was Yahoo Finance's predefined "Growth Technology Stocks" screen (quarterly revenue and earnings growth above 25%), which returned 57 rows this week. Preferreds and warrants (SMCIP, CORZW, CORZZ), sub-$5B market caps and foreign-listed or thinly traded lines were dropped, leaving eighteen candidates. For each one the consensus 12-month price target, rating distribution and revenue/EPS forecasts for this fiscal year and next were pulled from stockanalysis.com, and the eight strongest were then checked against the latest earnings releases, guidance, analyst actions and insider activity. The ranking weighs four things: how durable growth looks into next fiscal year, upside to the average target and the shape of the target range (a low target above the current price is the strongest signal in the set), a confirmed near-term catalyst, and how the stock has actually traded over the past ten weeks. Upside percentages were recomputed independently from price and target.
The ranking
1. Micron Technology (MU) · $1,015.80 → avg target $1,513 (+49%)
Micron is the clearest case of numbers and catalyst lining up. At $1,015.80 the stock sits 49% below the $1,513 average target, 45 of 49 analysts rate it a Buy, and the consensus has fiscal 2026 revenue up 247% to roughly $130B with EPS near $73, followed by another 89% revenue and 113% EPS gain in fiscal 2027. The company guided fiscal Q4 to $50B in revenue at an 86% gross margin and $31 in EPS, and reports on Wednesday, September 30; consensus for the fiscal Q1 guide is around $56.7B and $34.88. HBM4 is already in high-volume shipment, management says new fabs will not reach full capacity until late 2027 or 2028, and Intel's CEO has described memory prices as up five to seven times over the past year with the shortage intensifying into 2027. Against that backdrop the stock trades at roughly six times forward earnings. The risk is the one that always haunts memory: the $361 low target is a reminder that the market is pricing this as a cycle, not a franchise, and the shares have chopped between $740 and $1,030 over the chart window, so the entry matters.
2. Broadcom (AVGO) · $357.61 → avg target $532 (+49%)
Broadcom is the highest-conviction name on the list by rating count: 47 of 50 analysts are at Buy, the average target of $532 implies 49% upside from $357.61, and the growth is not a one-year spike. Fiscal 2026 revenue is expected to rise 66% to about $106B and fiscal 2027 another 64% to $173B, with EPS growing 71% and 66%. The September 2 fiscal Q3 print delivered $29.6B in revenue (up 86%), AI semiconductor revenue of $16.7B (up 221% year over year and 54% sequentially), $13.7B of free cash flow, and a Q4 guide of $34.8B with AI revenue of $21.7B. The stock has nonetheless slid about 11% over the chart window and roughly 17% from its mid-August high near $428 as the market rotated out of the AI leaders, which is exactly the kind of setup that rewards patient scaling in. The risk is customer concentration in a handful of hyperscaler ASIC programs and the $216 low target, which shows at least one analyst modeling a much harsher outcome.
3. NVIDIA (NVDA) · $222.27 → avg target $329 (+48%)
Nvidia earns its spot on breadth and momentum of estimates rather than on cheapness. At $222.27 the stock is 48% below the $329 average target with 58 of 61 analysts at Buy; the fiscal 2027 consensus (the year ending January 2027) calls for revenue of about $411B, up 91%, and EPS of $9.31, up 95%. The August 26 report showed Q2 revenue of $96.2B (up 106%), data-center revenue of $89B (up 117%), and a Q3 guide of $108B that excludes any China data-center compute, so upside there is optionality rather than assumption. Vera Rubin is in full production across the major clouds, the buyback authorization still has roughly $99B remaining, and the stock is the only one of the five that has risen over the chart window, up about 5% and back near its all-time high. The risks are well known: custom silicon at Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta, a 29x trailing multiple that leaves little margin for a capex pause, and a $180 low target roughly 19% below the current price.
4. Western Digital (WDC) · $441.36 → avg target $665 (+51%)
Western Digital offers the widest target range and, unusually for this list, a low target that sits almost exactly at the current price: the $420 low is only 5% below $441.36, while the average of $665 implies 51% upside and the $1,050 high more than doubles the stock. Twenty-one of 26 analysts are at Buy. Fiscal 2026 (ended June) revenue grew 36% to $12.9B and EPS more than doubled to $10.22; fiscal 2027 is modeled at 49% revenue growth and 97% EPS growth. The June-quarter call was the catalyst: gross margin expanded 1,310 basis points to 54.4%, cloud was 89% of revenue at $3.3B, fiscal Q1 was guided to $4.1B and $4.00 in EPS, and management cited customers seeking long-term agreements extending to calendar 2029–2031 alongside emerging demand from neoclouds, sovereign data centers and physical-AI companies. The stock has fallen 24% over the chart window from $583 in July, which is why the risk-reward has improved. The risks are hyperscaler lumpiness (exabyte growth decelerated to 22%), a cost-per-terabyte decline that missed the 10% target, and the fact that the next earnings date is late October, so there is no near-term print to re-rate the shares.
5. Credo Technology (CRDO) · $175.89 → avg target $282 (+61%)
Credo is the contrarian pick and the one with the strongest raw numbers: the average target of $282 implies 61% upside from $175.89, the $185 low target is above the current price, and 18 of 19 analysts are at Buy. Consensus has fiscal 2026 revenue up 206% to $1.34B and EPS up 394% to $3.46, with fiscal 2027 adding another 87% and 82%. The September 2 fiscal Q1 report beat on both lines ($479M in revenue, up 115%; EPS $1.20, up 131%) and guided Q2 to roughly $530M versus a $517M consensus, yet the stock fell 20% that day and is down 32% over the chart window from the $283 August high. The market's objections are real: the three largest customers were 74% of revenue, the growth mix is shifting from active electrical cables toward optics that are still ramping, the CTO sold over $5M of stock with more Form 144 filings pending, and BofA, JPMorgan and Evercore all cut targets in mid-September while keeping Buy ratings. With a beta above 3, this is the name to size smallest and buy in tranches; the reward is that a beaten-down leader in AI connectivity with a low target above the price rarely stays there for long if the optics ramp lands.
Charts
Three charts accompany this edition in the weekly email: ten weeks of daily closes for picks 1–4 against each name's average analyst target, the same view for pick 5 and the three alternates (SIMO, CIEN, TSM), and a grouped bar chart of consensus revenue growth this fiscal year versus next. Over the July 10 – September 18 window the picks moved MU +4%, AVGO −11%, NVDA +5%, WDC −24% and CRDO −32%; among the alternates SIMO fell 17%, CIEN 24% and TSM was flat.
Full analysis table
Price and targets from stockanalysis.com as of September 18. Rev and EPS columns are consensus growth for this fiscal year / next fiscal year. "10-wk" is the change over the July 10 – September 18 chart window (finalists only).
Ticker | Price | Avg target (upside) | Low / High | Buy / total | Rev growth FY / FY+1 | EPS growth FY / FY+1 | 10-wk |
MU | $1,015.80 | $1,513 (+49%) | $361 / $2,200 | 45/49 | +247% / +89% | +786% / +113% | +4% |
AVGO | $357.61 | $532 (+49%) | $216 / $715 | 47/50 | +66% / +64% | +71% / +66% | -11% |
NVDA | $222.27 | $329 (+48%) | $180 / $515 | 58/61 | +65% / +91% | +66% / +95% | +5% |
WDC | $441.36 | $665 (+51%) | $420 / $1,050 | 21/26 | +36% / +49% | +107% / +97% | -24% |
CRDO | $175.89 | $282 (+61%) | $185 / $350 | 18/19 | +206% / +87% | +394% / +82% | -32% |
SIMO | $272.11 | $370 (+36%) | $325 / $450 | 11/12 | +112% / +30% | +214% / +43% | -17% |
CIEN | $348.80 | $502 (+44%) | $325 / $660 | 14/20 | +35% / +31% | +171% / +65% | -24% |
TSM | $434.67 | $551 (+27%) | $440 / $700 | 19/20 | +43% / +35% | +63% / +32% | +0% |
STX | $858.79 | $1,125 (+31%) | $700 / $1,600 | 22/25 | +34% / +54% | +92% / +130% | — |
ALAB | $303.25 | $390 (+29%) | $190 / $500 | 19/26 | +124% / +56% | +119% / +59% | — |
VICR | $222.72 | $386 (+73%) | $320 / $450 | 4/4 | +48% / +56% | +17% / +59% | — |
KEYS | $335.00 | $415 (+24%) | $350 / $452 | 10/12 | +32% / +15% | +60% / +21% | — |
TER | $371.47 | $446 (+20%) | $350 / $550 | 12/17 | +61% / +22% | +130% / +28% | — |
AMD | $559.82 | $617 (+10%) | $365 / $1,250 | 44/55 | +47% / +73% | +82% / +106% | — |
PLTR | $177.64 | $197 (+11%) | $80 / $255 | 21/32 | +83% / +49% | +114% / +45% | — |
SMTC | $185.00 | $209 (+13%) | $155 / $300 | 14/15 | +16% / +42% | +94% / +103% | — |
DELL | $568.06 | $570 (+0%) | $465 / $735 | 20/29 | +19% / +70% | +27% / +151% | — |
NET | $323.60 | $336 (+4%) | $160 / $400 | 23/34 | +32% / +29% | +36% / +33% | — |
Why the others didn't make it
Silicon Motion (SIMO) came closest: 11 of 12 analysts at Buy, a $325 low target 19% above the $272 price and 112% revenue growth this year, but growth decelerates to 30% next year, the company just upsized a zero-coupon convertible to as much as $1.15B with a $380.50 conversion price, and at $9.6B it is the smallest and most volatile name in the finalist group. Ciena (CIEN) delivered a strong fiscal Q3 (revenue $1.67B, up 37%; adjusted EPS $2.11, up 215%) and offers 44% upside to a $502 target, but its 35%/31% revenue growth is the slowest of the finalists, only 14 of 20 analysts are at Buy and the stock is down 24% over the window after analysts trimmed targets into the print. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) has the cleanest range (the $440 low sits above the $435 price) but only 27% upside, the least of the eight. Seagate (STX) and Astera Labs (ALAB) offer 31% and 29% upside with weaker rating mixes (ALAB has seven Holds). Vicor (VICR) screens spectacularly at 73% upside with a $320 low target, but only four analysts cover it and this year's EPS growth is a modest 17%. Keysight (KEYS) and Teradyne (TER) decelerate sharply next year (15% and 22% revenue growth). AMD, Palantir, Semtech, Cloudflare and Dell all have strong fundamentals but trade at or near their average targets, with implied upside between 0% and 13%, which leaves no margin of safety in a week when the Fed is tightening.
Sources
Micron – fiscal Q3 2026 results and Q4 guidance (June 24, 2026)
Micron – fiscal Q4 earnings call scheduled September 30, 2026
The Motley Fool – Why Credo stock plunged 20% (September 2, 2026)
Credo – analyst target cuts and insider selling (September 16, 2026)
Silicon Motion – AI push and convertible notes (September 4, 2026)
Charles Schwab – market update, September 18, 2026 (Fed hike, yields, oil)
⚖️ Disclaimer
This post is published for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing here is individualized investment advice, a recommendation tailored to any person's circumstances, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security or financial instrument. This post is not an investment advisory service, and no advisory or fiduciary relationship is created between me and any reader. I am not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or financial planner. The indicators, thresholds, status ratings, and scenario probabilities are my own subjective framework and judgment, not forecasts or guarantees; they can be and often will be wrong. Data are drawn from third-party public sources believed to be reliable but not independently verified, may be preliminary, revised, delayed, or contain errors, and are current only as of the date shown. Portions of this post are produced with the assistance of AI tools and may contain inaccuracies. Past performance and historical relationships do not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. You are solely responsible for your own investment decisions and should consult a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional before acting on anything you read here. I may hold positions in securities or asset classes discussed and may trade them without notice. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I disclaim all liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content. Links to third-party sites are provided for convenience only and do not constitute an endorsement.
Auto-generated by the Weekly Growth Stock Screen · September 20, 2026 · Next run: September 27, 2026